Here’s the picture of me just before I started my weight loss journey over a year ago…

And…

That’s one of the most recent pictures of me. Of course, I’m the one in the purple dress. I was at my friend Ed Stevens’ birthday party in Brooklyn. You can really tell in my face that I’ve made weight loss progress. And I have to thank my friends at New York Health & Racquet Club for helping me with my weight loss success so far!

I’m pretty proud of myself for the progress that I’ve made, but I’ve still got a long way to go & I’m taking it slow. We’re in the process of getting me a new trainer. I’m also about to start supplementing my trainer workouts with other classes at New York Health & Racquet Club. Now that it’s warm, I’m more willing to get out & do more. Keep checking back for my progress.

We’re all trying to get healthier and lose weight in preparation for summertime, so I thought I’d share some inspirational & motivational weight loss success stories with you…including Oprah’s friend Chef Art Smith! I hope these stories motivate you like they’ve motivated me

According to Oprah.com…

Just before celebrating his 50th birthday, Art Smith, Oprah’s former personal chef, discovered he needed reading glasses. “I thought I was just turning older,” he says.

Soon after, Art noticed other ailments that landed him in the emergency room. “I thought I was having a heart attack,” he says.

Finally, doctors delivered a shocking diagnosis–Art had diabetes. It horrified me because my father has diabetes. My mother has diabetes on her side of the family,” he says. “I just had to take action. If not, I wasn’t going to be around.”

Art lost 85 pounds through good, old-fashioned diet and exercise. Even better, his new healthy lifestyle reversed his diagnosis. “Once the belly fat disappears, then it’s no longer sending chemicals out to the muscles saying, ‘Ignore the insulin,’” Dr. Oz explains.

While he admits to occasionally indulging in a piece of real fried chicken, Art has found a way to make his signature dish healthier. “When I want to enjoy it more, [I] can make it lighter,” he says. “The fact is you’ve got to get rid of the skin and you’ve got to use a multigrain type of coating because it’s all in the crust was where the fat is.” Art also uses Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk to coat the chicken for less fat and more protein.

Though he’s done the hard work himself, Art says he couldn’t have done it without his loved ones. “[Friends said,] ‘We want you to stay with us,’” he says. “They embraced me.”

Art lost the weight by eating yummy foods like that Southern Unfried Chicken! I’m hoping that he’ll write a cookbook with more of the recipes that helped him lose weight. In the meantime, Here’s the recipe for the unfried chicken:

Servings: Serves 8

Ingredients:

Art Smith’s Southern Oven Unfried Chicken

*1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
*8 drumsticks , skinless
*4 chicken breasts , cut in half and skinless
*1 Tbsp. Louisiana Hot Sauce
*1 1/2 cup multigrain cereal flakes , crushed
*1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
*1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
*2 tsp. black pepper
*2 tsp. hot red pepper
*1 tsp. paprika

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a bowl add yogurt, chicken pieces and hot sauce. Allow to soak. In bag, add crushed cereal flakes, and spices.

Shake corn flakes and spices well. Add chicken pieces and shake well. Place on sheet pan and allow to sit uncovered in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Place on lightly oiled pan and into the oven.

Bake chicken pieces for 35–40 minutes.

Serve hot or room temperature.

Nutritional Information:
Per Serving, About: Calories: 312 Protein: 29.7g Carbohydrates: 15.4g Dietary Fiber: 0.6g Sugars: 1.4g Total Fat: 13.6g Sodium: 204.6mg

Here are more weight loss success stories…

According to ThatsFit.com…

Name: Christina Ramos

Age: 28

Height: 5 feet, 7 inches

Before Weight: 220 pounds

How I Gained It: Growing up, I had always been active with some sort of organized sports, whether it was soccer, track or lacrosse, but I started gaining weight when I stopped playing competitive sports after high school. After graduating, I didn’t play sports in college and pretty much stopped exercising altogether as a result. However, I continued to eat as if I was still working out two to three hours a day, which was definitely not the case. Most students gain the freshman 15, but I started to pack on the pounds the summer before I even set foot on campus. My eating habits worsened when I got to college. By January, I had gained over 40 pounds.

Breaking Point: My unhappiness with how I physically looked and felt was consuming my life and affecting my college experience — I realized I was avoiding social engagements and missing out on opportunities. College is supposed to be the time of your life, but I wasn’t making the most of it. The tipping point was seeing photos of myself at my heaviest and coming to the realization that I was as big as I felt.

How I Lost It: Once I had decided to make a change, I found a friend who would commit to running with me four days a week. We would run or walk in all types of weather after our classes in the middle of winter in Maine. Eventually we began running more and more as the weather got better, and by summer, I was hooked on running and I’ve been doing it ever since. Two years ago, I started joining 5K runs to challenge myself, and the last October, I completed my first half-marathon in under two hours.

But running hasn’t been my only tool in my weight loss journey. After graduating from college and starting my first full-time job, I found that cooking for myself, balancing work and finding time to hit the road was challenging and I slowly began to gain the weight back. I joined Weight Watchers with my best friend in May 2006 to help me maintain my weight loss, but I ended up losing more weight than I had actually gained. I became a “Lifetime Member” in 2007 and have never looked back.

Most importantly, I’ve changed my lifestyle and eating habits in order to be healthier, not just thinner. I have to remind myself of that every day, especially on those days that I slip up. When I do, I just get back on program with the next meal or through my workout. My weight can fluctuate two or three pounds depending on the season, but instead of obsessing over the weight I try to focus on how far I’ve come and how good I feel. I keep a picture of myself at my heaviest weight with me in my purse at all times to give me the perspective I sometimes need to encourage myself because I’m determined not to go back.

My goals going forward are to try new ways to exercise and tone my body. I’ve started lifting weights and playing soccer, and I also do circuit training, spinning classes and ab workouts. If I can’t make it to a fitness class or the gym, I work out at home using my own set of weights and free exercise shows. As I see my body slowly change, it’s empowering to know I have the strength and ability to change my body.

After Weight: 145 pounds

Real change takes time — it took Christina several years to reach her goal weight, but she’s maintained it for two years.

Chef Scott Wall in Walnut Creek, Calif. is an inspiration to men everywhere. If you think staying lean and healthy is difficult for you, then imagine what it’s like when it’s your job to create food most people would die for on a nightly basis. For Wall, that wasn’t easy, since he eats roughly 80 percent of his meals at the restaurant, where he has worked since graduating from culinary school in 2000. But after he tipped the scales at 330 pounds, he knew it was time for a change.

He’s lost an astonishing 125 pounds in the last two years by exercising and changing his diet. His new lease on life has also meant creating seasonal, healthy dishes that don’t skimp on flavor. Some of the dishes he’s designed (and now offers on his menu for his patrons to help them lose weight as well) include grilled steelhead salmon with English peas, asparagus and vine ripened tomato salsa, as well as blackened Alaskan Halibut with sweet corn and cherry tomato relish. Wall’s weight loss is infectious, which is why we asked him how he’s able to eat smart when his main job is to keep his customers full and satisfied.

That’s Fit: What was the downside health-wise of being in your profession?

Scott Wall: It’s definitely the long days of working in the kitchen with very little exercise. It’s a vicious cycle. I would consume large amounts of food at one sitting, usually late at night right before going to sleep. A lot of those meals were fast food because that was the only thing open after working every night. Add in a few after-work drinks and it was a very unhealthy combination.

TF: What made you decide that enough was enough with your weight?

SW: I just wasn’t feeling healthy any more. Plus, photos taken at our company picnic scared me — I didn’t realize quite how large I had become until I saw them. Throughout my life, I’ve always been athletic, but at my heaviest, I was nothing close to athletic. I would have times where I was short of breath doing things that never tired me out when I wasn’t as heavy, like walking up a flight of stairs in the parking garage, or getting to my truck after work. I was even shopping at Big and Tall to find pants that fit, which I’d never done before.

TF: What changes does a chef make with his diet to trim down?

SW: The most effective change I made to my diet was to cut out fried foods, cheeses and butter. I also try to eat more in the mornings now, knowing that I have all day to burn the calories off by being active. Plus, I spread my food consumption over four or five smaller meals in a day and stop eating several hours before going to bed.

Nutritionally, I haven’t had fast food in probably two years. I also don’t eat out nearly as much now, which is challenging because as a chef it’s part of my job to dine at other restaurants and see what’s out there, but it’s too much of a temptation. Other changes I made have included cutting out eating most breads and heavy carbs, and creating power salads. Instead of eating sandwiches, these salads include tons of vegetables (raw or blanched), proteins, like chicken breast or ahi tuna, a whole avocado, garlic, onions, herbs and jalapeños. I now dress my salads with lemon juice, vinegar and a little oil, or, with salsa. If I do eat a sandwich, I’ll use guacamole instead of mayonnaise and cheese. Finally, I’ve also cut out the majority of alcohol consumption, soda and energy drinks. The empty calories just weren’t worth it, so now, I drink lots of water and iced tea.

TF: Do you find time to work out with your busy schedule?

SW: Exercise played a huge role in my weight loss. I was working out around 5-6 days a week when I really began to drop the weight. When I would go to the gym, I try to work out harder because I knew I might not be there for a day or two. Now that I’ve reached my target weight, I’ve leveled that out a bit and work out two or three days a week.

TF: What activities really shaved off the pounds for you?

SW: I never got into taking classes at the gym because I can’t usually fit them into my schedule, since my only free time tends to be after work, which is between midnight and 2:00 a.m. So I began to run a lot more, which I never did before. I also played a lot of five-on-five full court basketball and lifted free weights to tone and build muscle. But now that I’ve lost the weight, I am really focusing on my abs more by doing a lot more core exercises to try and lose the extra skin I have left over on my belly.

TF: Finally, what’s been the biggest challenge for a chef that makes it difficult to stay slim?

SW: Being in the restaurant and surrounded by all this good food! A lot of our menu is really hearty stuff like meat and potatoes, especially in the colder winter months. It’s really hard to avoid things like the French fry bowl and staying away from the cheeses and breads. For me, it’s picking at food that I really had to stop, since I never found myself sitting down and eating a whole bowl of food. I also have trouble staying away from the desserts. The pastry chef we have is really creative and it’s hard to avoid them — and the cookie jar we have on the counter. But, you just have to be strict with yourself. You can just as easily snack on blanched green beans or broccoli as you can on mashed potatoes. It’s all a matter of just saying no — then shoving fruit into your mouth instead of a French fry!

S

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